Entertainment

Twitter Delivering Unwanted Tweets via SMS

Numerous Twitter users are reporting a peculiar bug this morning: random SMS messages of tweets from users that they don’t follow.

Some are even saying they don’t have mobile notifications turned on, period, but are receiving the unwanted texts anyway (you can enable SMS alerts for specific users).

While probably just a nuisance to most, keep in mind that unless you have an unlimited text messaging plan, tweets do count against you, so it's a problem that potentially has at least some minor financial ramifications attached.

The bug has hit our own Jennifer Van Grove, who says she's been receiving the unwanted tweets since Monday, and Twitter search indicatesthat it’s been an ongoing issue for others as well. No word yet from Twitter on the cause, but we’ll update when we learn more.

If you’re experiencing the issue, let us know what’s happening in the comments.

Update:Jon Burg offers an interesting possibility - that this isn't necessarily a bug, but rather the new retweet system in play. For example, if someone you have notifications turned on for retweets using the new system, it could appear as a tweet from a stranger via SMS. That still wouldn't explain why users who claim to have notifications turned off completely are receiving the messages though. More to come ...

Update #2: Twitter writes on their status blog that "Some users are seeing tweets (that aren’t retweets) from users they do not follow. We have a Known Issues page with more information and we are working on fixing the underlying cause."

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